wfn.org | Art Therapy for Chilean Children

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Protective Shell from the Beatings
Unique Project by San Bernado Lutheran Congregation

SANTIAGO DE CHILE, Chile/GENEVA, 19 July 2002 (LWI) - Cesar
concentrates on the dog he is making from papier mache. The
14-year-old is new in the group and says nothing. He is slightly
retarded. From early childhood he slept in his mother's bed and
constantly watched his father raping her.

Manuel's turtle is almost finished. The ten-year-old needs a
protective shell as well, because he is often beaten by his father
and locked out in the yard. Such experience is common among all
the children who attend art therapy organized by the Lutheran
congregation of San Bernardo, a town near Chile's capital,
Santiago.

The children's art course takes place in the parish women's
counsel center. Women come here for psychological care and legal
counseling if they are exposed to domestic violence. Since the
city closed down its advisory services, the San Bernardo center is
the only place offering such assistance.
To allow the mothers to work through their traumatic experiences
the center offers them a weekly afternoon therapy with a child
psychologist and a teacher for the visual arts. The children do
not just learn how to make papier mache animals. "For an afternoon
we are their mother and father," explains the child psychologist
and director of the center, Begona Macaya Aretxabala. "We show
them that men and women can be friendly and humorous with one
another and also with children."
The psychologist asks the children what they would do later in
life if their own children misbehaved. Without exception they say
they would hit them. So far the children have been victims, but
not victimizers. Their despair is visible in what they model-a
crooked dancer raising her hands as if in a cry of pain, or a cat
cowering in fear. "It is important for these children to be able
to give expression to their fear, despair and loneliness in such
figures," says art teacher Javier Martinez Herrera.
The San Bernardo center is the only place in Chile offering art
therapy for children. Many Chilean child psychologists regard this
project with mistrust. "Many colleagues think we are crazy. A few
consider it a good idea but impossible to finance," Aretxabala
says. And, financial security for the children's work was assured
only until the end of June.
Just before the therapy session ends, art teacher Herrera reads
from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The children
listen intently. A man-for the duration of the course their
symbolic father-calmly reads stories to them. Something they have
not experienced in their own homes. (441 words)

(Contributed by LWI correspondent Alexandra Jaenicke, assisting
with the public relations work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Chile.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

*       *       *
LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
English Editor: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30
http://www.lutheranworld.org/